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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Vancouver events: Vancouver Wine Festival, Zoomer Show and more

Matmos takes the Media Club Feb. 21.

Photograph by: Andrew J Farkas

Matmos

The veteran experimental electronic duo’s first album in five years, Marriage of True Minds, features chamber music giving way to grinding noise-rock riffs and esoteric samples. Yet one track, Tunnel, should be a dance-floor hit — its synth-driven speed and repeated crescendos are a raver’s paradise.

Feb. 21, 8 p.m. | Media Club

Tickets: $13, timberconcerts.com

Toro y Moi

Toro y Moi’s three albums define the funk-lite, synth-saturated soul music known as chillwave or trip-hop. Influences range from the dream- soul of Earth Wind and Fire, to disco’s smooth operators Barry White and Sade, but the indie darling injects dense walls of rhythm below the surface. In Vancouver, he performs behind a rack of keyboards and beatmaker gadgets backed by two guitarists and a drummer.

Feb. 26, 9:30 p.m. | Biltmore Cabaret

Tickets: $18 at ticketweb.ca

Face of Today Gala

Free-flowing Veuve Clicquot and creative cuisine are hallmarks of this glamorous 1920s-themed gala, taking over the former Escada store (the art deco gem in Sinclair Centre). Jarvis Church (former frontman of the Philosopher Kings, above) performs. Proceeds support underprivileged youth.

Feb. 22, 7 p.m. | Escada, Sinclair Centre

Tickets: $300 at faceoftoday.ca

Galiano Literary Festival

Organized by Galiano Island Books, a firmly established indie bookstore that seconds as the island’s community hub, this literary fest expands every year. Some 20 authors are set to appear at the gorgeous Galiano Oceanfront Inn, including Robert Bringhurst, Kevin Chong, Bill Gaston, Annabel Lyon, Nancy Richler and Jan Zwicky.

Feb. 22-24, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. | Galiano Oceanfront Inn and Spa

Tickets: $20-150; galianoliteraryfestival.com

Vancouver Cantata Singers: Brahms’s Requiem

Brahms’s German Requiem, his largest single work, is considered one of the greatest monuments of choral music. Vancouver Cantata Singers heighten the grandeur, performing the powerful work in the magnificent atrium of UBC’s Life Sciences Institute.

Feb. 23, 8 p.m. | Life Sciences Institute

Tickets: $30/$25 at www.vancouvercantatasingers.com

ZoomerShow

If 50 is the new 35 (but seriously, aren’t we post-age, already?), it makes sense that Canada’s largest lifestyle expo for active boomers offers activities and products geared for high-energy movers and shakers. Third Quarter Job Zone advises on employment opportunities; the mainstage features Abba and Beatles tributes, belly dance and more, and the Zoomer Active Zone showcases creative approaches to fitness (yumana body rolling, anyone?).

Feb. 23-24 | Vancouver Convention Centre

Tickets: $8 at zoomershow.ca

B.C. Home & Garden Show

Turn that attic into a guest bedroom and the garage into a garden studio after scoping ideas offered by more than 400 vendors specializing in decor, renovations, landscape and more. Vancouver Sun Gardeners School covers topics from seed planting to composting, while HGTV stars like Paul Lafrance of Decked Out, and Philip DuMoulin and Sarah Daniels, of Urban Suburban, are among dozens of mainstage celebrities.

Feb. 20-24 | BC Place

Tickets: $9-$15

More information at bchomeandgardenshow.com

Vancouver International Wine Festival

The Festival’s signature event, the International Festival Tasting Room (Feb. 28-March 2), offers a mind-boggling 763 wines from 15 countries to taste in a soccer-field-sized space. Best mode of attack: Focus on countries of most interest as well as the Festival’s featured region (California) and varietal (Chardonnay). Tip: Thursday’s tasting event is least crowded.

Feb. 25-March 3 | Various Vancouver venues

Endellion String Quartet

Britain’s premiere quartet combines precision with interpretative depth on its 10-CD box set, Beethoven’s Complete String Quartets. For this concert, the players select favourite early, middle and late works from the corpus.

Feb. 26, 8 p.m. | Vancouver Playhouse

Tickets: $40 at friendsofchambermusic.ca

Haunted

The 26-year-old wunderkind Daniel Karasik, winner of CBC’s Canada Writes prize for fiction, the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition and numerous other awards, presents the world premiere of his play, Haunted, as part of the Chutzpah! Festival. The powerful drama explores the relationship of newly widowed Abby, her rabbi, David, and the mystery of the unseen.

Feb. 27-March 3 | Norman Rothstein Theatre

Tickets: $18-$27 at www.ticketstonight.ca

Arts Club on Tour: The 39 Steps

A cast of four tackles 150 characters in this wacky, Monty-Pythonesque farce inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock movie. “A rollicking riot of fun,” raved The Sun’s theatre critic when the Arts Club first mounted this winner in 2010.

Now until March 16 | Various venues, from North Vancouver to Chilliwack

See schedule at artsclub.com

The Icebook/Micro Performance Series

Part book art, part performance, this hybrid event is theatre in micro. Paper cut-outs and video projections create an immersive experience for an audience of just 10. Husband-and-wife team David and Kristen McGuire give a nod to silent film and surrealism in their unique creation, which The Guardian calls “a charming, fragile show.”

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